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Ysanne Isard
Ysanne Isard was a female human who served as the Director of Imperial Intelligence for several years during the Galactic Civil War, and ruled the Galactic Empire herself for a time. Biography Early life Ysanne Isard was born into a wealthy and influential family on Imperial Center in 28 BBY. Her father, Armand Isard, was the Director of Imperial Intelligence and had previously been the Director of the Senate Bureau of Intelligence during the waning days of the Old Republic. The Isards flourished under Galactic Empire's rule, possessing far more power and prestige than during the time of the Republic. Ysanne was born with heterochromia iridium, possessing one red and one blue eye, though her features were said to be otherwise attractive. Isard was raised on Imperial Center and grew up in the Emperor's Court. As a young child, she idolized her father, boasting of his power to anyone that would listen. Because her mother had died by this point, Armand Isard saw fit to allow his young daughter to accompany him to work, and had no qualms about her being in the presence of dangerous individuals like High Inquisitor Antinnis Tremayne. Others did, however, and often questioned the presence of a child in high-security areas. During the Great Jedi Purge, Ysanne went with her father to Imperial facilities on Imperial Center often, though she displayed little awareness of his work. She was also known to attend Imperial party receptions with her father, rarely leaving his side. Any naïveté present in Ysanne Isard was gone by the time she reached adolescence, when the coldness and ambition she inherited from her father began to manifest itself. Armand began training his daughter from a very young age as a field operative, hoping for her to follow in his footsteps and gain a position in Imperial Intelligence. Ysanne was incredibly ambitious, and, after flourishing and growing into an expert field agent, she began to plot her ascension behind his back. She did not take advantage of her father's position, using her own talents, augmented by her vigor and ruthlessness when dealing with enemies of the Empire, to rise above her peers. She built up a plethora of contacts and alliances within Imperial Intelligence, who were able to help her in acquiring information that her rank did not allow her; despite the most stringent of security procedures, she managed to find out about the Death Star project at least a year before it was officially announced. From a young age, Ysanne developed a close personal devotion to Cosimo Palpatine II, and found his power and charisma attractive. Some time after he inherited the throne as Emperor Isard came to love him and the two engaged in a casual affair. By the time she was in her twenties, Isard had become one of the best field agents among Imperial Intelligence. Isard had a multitude of fellow agents who acted as her back-up on assignments; although she was a capable and cunning operative, Ysanne lacked physical strength, which these men provided in abundance. In addition, she also personally led a brute squad composed of former stormtrooper NCOs, men who had been chosen for their physique rather than their intelligence. She along with the rest of her squad specialized in "dagger and fist" missions. The male members of her squad were also widely rumored to be her lovers in addition to her muscle. Although these rumors were unsubstantiated, it was known that Isard had little time for a conventional social life due to being completely dedicated to the structure of the New Order. Isard saw agents such as Jahan Cross to be cheaper than hired guns, such as the bounty hunter, Boba Fett.Star Wars: Agent of the Empire: Hard Targets By 0 BBY, Ysanne was one of the foremost field agents of her time, and Armand was proud to have her as his daughter. He nevertheless felt threatened by her ambition, especially due to her and her brute squad's departure from his own policy of subtle and civilized ruthlessness. Fearing that she would attempt to overthrow him as director, the elder Isard decided to rid himself of her threat. Galactic Civil War Mission to Darkknell A few months before the Battle of Yavin, Ysanne Isard was summoned by her father to meet with him in his office, where he outlined the parameters for her next mission, to the world of Darkknell. Agents of the Alliance to Restore the Republic had managed to steal a set of datacards containing coordinates to the exact location of the Death Star's construction site at Despayre, and a transfer between Alliance agents was due to take place on Darkknell. Isard was tasked with retrieving the datacards, capturing the Rebel agent sent to pick them up, and identifying the traitor who had stolen them, though the datacards were by far the most important part of her mission. Ysanne was not permitted to take the usual full complement of Intelligence forces with her due to the secrecy of the mission, though her father allowed her to take one of her most trusted enforcers, a hulking man named Trabler, to assist her. Acting under the false identity of Darkknell Special Security agent Katya Glasc, Isard passed through Darkknell's customs, heading immediately to the capital city of Xakrea. She knew that the Rebel would be taking refuge among the fringe population of Xakrea, and planned to visit any individual who provided identity-changing services. Knowing that anyone who would provide him with a new identity would sell her his real identity, she had Trabler drive her to each establishment in turn, starting with Arky's Emporium of Forgotten Treasures. Once there, she encountered Hal Horn, a high-ranking Corellian Security Force officer, and enlisted his help in searching for the Rebel. Horn was searching for a criminal, Moranda Savich, who Isard claimed to have caught sight of. She ushered the Corellian out of the building, revealing no details about Savich, and guided him back to her rented landspeeder. En route, they saw Moranda Savich speaking with Trabler; Isard ordered her enforcer to shoot the woman. With Savich dead, Horn was in Isard's debt, though he initially refused to help her in hunting down Rebels. She used the recently reported death of Horn's fellow Corellian Garm Bel Iblis against him, claiming that as the Rebel they were hunting had killed Bel Iblis, it was Horn's duty as a Corellian to help her track him down. She claimed that Bel Iblis was a loyal Imperial, though in truth his assassination had been ordered by Armand Isard because of the Corellian's anti-Imperial tendencies. Isard visited various criminal establishments all over Xakrea, trying to force information pertaining to the Rebel Alliance out of them, though none of the meetings proved fruitful. Horn, clearly recognizing Ysanne and her bodyguard as citizens of Imperial Center, became suspicious of them, and secretly sought to find an opportunity to abandon them and return to Corellia. Eventually, in a cantina named the Continuum Void, Isard learned that the subject of one of the holographs of suspected Rebels had had something extremely valuable stolen from him earlier in the day. The Devaronian barman could not identify the thief, though he told them that it was a brown-haired Human female. Knowing that Moranda Savich was a well-known thief, she secretly had Trabler check local police and hospital records to find out if they had recovered Savich; Isard then led Hal Horn back to her safehouse. Horn had outlived his usefulness, and Isard suspected that he had attempted to hide Savich's role in the theft of the datacards, for reasons unknown. After Trabler reported back and informed her that Savich did not show up on any local hospital or police records, she had him travel to the safehouse before they reached it, ready to ambush the CorSec officer. Horn was able to defend himself from Trabler's crude blows, however, and managed to incapacitate him and steal his blaster. He and Isard exchanged several blaster bolts, all of which barely missed their intended targets, before Trabler resurfaced. Horn was again too quick for the man, stabbing him with a hidden vibroblade. Her enforcer killed, Isard had no choice but to listen to Horn, who destroyed a holograph of Moranda Savich—the only conclusive means Isard had of identifying her. Horn confirmed that it had been Savich who had stolen the datacards from the Rebel at the Continuum Void cantina, and offered to help Isard track her down in exchange for his life. Knowing Horn was her only chance at recovering the datacards, Isard agreed to his proposition, on the condition that Horn wear a choke-collar. The irremovable device would cut off the blood flow to the Corellian's neck and kill him at Isard's command, or else whenever she perished. Horn agreed to this, and allowed the field operative to fix the collar to his neck. With few leads to follow, Horn deduced that the Continuum Void was their best bet for locating Moranda Savich, as it stocked Gralish liqueur, a favorite beverage of hers. Once there, however, Savich was nowhere to be seen, and the barman was also missing. Horn theorized that Savich had sent him elsewhere, tying up a loose end which could lead Isard to her. They also learned that she was acting with an accomplice, either a Rebel agent or a fellow criminal. Initially, Ysanne suspected that Seb Arkos, the owner of Arky's Emporium of Forgotten Treasures, was the accomplice, though Horn, who'd had dealings with Arkos previously, told her that the information broker was unlikely to get himself involved with anything as serious as Savich's situation. Isard planned to track down the manager of the cantina and listen to whatever story Savich had spun him; from there, they could backtrack through it and find another lead to the thief and her accomplice. This was, however, a ploy by Savich intended to distract Isard, while the criminal found the highest bidder for the datacards. Midway through their search for the barman's known associates, the two noticed several occurrences of Darkknell defense airspeeders speeding through the city's streets, which they suspected were related to the Rebel agents running amok. Isard decided to abandon their previous strategy and return to the safe-house, where she could tap into local records to find out what the defense airspeeders were up to. Once there, she was able to confirm that the airspeeders were responding to Savich; almost immediately afterwards, Horn received a comlink message from the woman, who told Isard that she would hand over the datacards for one million credits, and nothing less. Savich told them to meet her with the money at a nearby warehouse, where she hoped Isard and local defense forces would have an auction of sorts. Isard, however, hacked into the local files once again, sending the entire Darkknell security force on a non-existent training exercise to the nearest spaceport. They were then interrupted by a woman named Allyse Conroy, actually Savich in disguise, who claimed to be an old friend of Horn's. When Darkknell Defense Agency officer Nyroska arrived, Savich claimed that she was Ysanne Isard, and that Isard and Horn were Rebel agents. With Isard unable to provide proper identification, Nyroska took Savich's word for it, and had all of them transported to his headquarters. Savich managed to escape soon after Ysanne showed them her identification; the datacards had made their way into Mon Mothma's hands, and Isard had failed in her mission. Rise to power The prospect of losing considerable face back on Imperial Center infuriated Isard, so she instead found a way to pin the blame on her father. She eventually found her opportunity when she uncovered evidence that her father planned to overthrow the Emperor. Upon her return, Armand told his daughter that she would not be executed for her failure. Rather than express gratitude, however, Ysanne launched a stinging attack against Armand, claiming he knowingly sent her on a suicide mission, that he was a member of the Rebel Alliance, and that he had intervened in the assassination attempt on Garm Bel Iblis. Backed up by members of the Emperor's Royal Guards, she accused her father of treason and the Emperor had him executed within the hour. It was rumored that Ysanne herself fired the shot that killed him, though this was unverified. Isard almost immediately took the reins of Imperial Intelligence from her father, replacing him as Director. Now that she had finally achieved the power she craved, she put all her effort into pleasing Emperor Palpatine, the only person who mattered. Isard ruled through the careful use of fear, making sure to let her subordinates know that if they failed she would have them severely punished. While this did not engender loyalty, it worked to keep her minions in line.Star Wars: Wraith Squadron'' Sometimes, though rarely, Ysanne used rewards for good performances as a way to motivate those under her command. She was rarely able to keep her anger under control, however, and any promotions handed out were frequently rescinded. Officially, her power was circumscribed by the Ubiqtorate, a group of powerful advisors, although she did not argue with it. In actuality, her real purpose was to monitor the behavior of those of the Ubiqtorate members. Isard made many suggestions to the Emperor about how he might rule his Empire more effectively, and he provided her with whatever resources were necessary to achieve her means.The Official Star Wars Fact File 110 One of her suggestions was to build a prison center which could also act as a brainwashing facility. She wanted to be able to capture members of the Rebel Alliance, brainwash them into becoming sleeper agents, and send them back to their superiors, awaiting the right moment to activate them. Palpatine was impressed by her ideas, and awarded her with the second ''Executor''-class Star Dreadnought known to exist. While Darth Vader's flagship Executor was constructed at Fondor, its twin was constructed at Kuat and was also originally named Executor to conceal the existence of a second ship. For years, both shipyards claimed to have built the famous Executor, but Isard re-christened her Kuati vessel as Lusankya.Star Wars: The Bacta War Although the exact details of how he did it would forever elude Isard, Palpatine secretly had the ship placed deep underneath the cityscape of Imperial Center, using his connection with the Force to remove it from any witnesses' memories. She also ensured that several members of the Ubiqtorate who attempted to use the Intelligence apparatus for their own ends were "reassigned" to the Lusankya. As such, her power steadily increased until she effectively was the entire Imperial security apparatus, suppressing elite intrigues and civic unrest alike. Around six months after the Battle of Yavin, Palpatine confided the location of her new facility to her, at the same time that Vader's Executor became operational. Isard's first prisoner was General Jan Dodonna of the Rebel Alliance, the man responsible for the plan to destroy the Death Star. Dodonna became a leader figure among Isard's prisoners, who were made up largely of his fellow Rebels, but also of ineffectual officers or personal enemies of Isard's.Star Wars: The Krytos Trap Overall, the Super Star Destroyer took in millions of inmates, and it ultimately served its purpose well. The thought of the shadowy "Lusankya" facility struck fear into most Rebels' hearts, with many sleeper agents being successfully deployed among the ranks of the Rebellion.Star Wars: Wedge's Gamble Much of her time was taken up dealing with the Rebel Alliance. Isard took them far more seriously than Palpatine did, but was unable to bend his opinion on the matter. Although Isard was feared by many, ultimately most carried out her orders out of respect, and not simply fear. Isard was also referred to as an Admiral by some. Shifting focus While most of her work was done in secret, Ysanne was occasionally called upon by the Empire to perform more public actions. On at least one occasion, she personally thanked civilians on behalf of the Empire, such as Garik Loran, a child actor who starred in Imperial propaganda films. At some point during her tenure as Director, Isard was responsible for naming a new prison on Imperial Center; she named it the Armand Isard Correctional Facility, after her father. Palpatine also had her spy on close confidants to gauge their loyalty at some of the Emperor's elaborate parties, which she regularly attended. At one such event, Isard learned of Mara Jade, one of the Emperor's Hands. As she could not find an ounce of information on Jade, Isard immediately marked her as a potential enemy, and questioned Palpatine about her loyalty. Palpatine had no fears about Mara Jade, though, and told Isard he feared betrayal from her more than Jade. Furious, Isard held an intense personal grudge against Jade, one she made no attempt to hide. Sometime during the Galactic Civil War, one of Isard's agents, a man named Vune Willic, was framed for attempting to assassinate Emperor Palpatine at the Galactic Games on Imperial Center. His attempts were foiled, and Isard had him imprisoned, and scheduled his execution. It was an embarrassment to her that high-ranking Imperial officials plotted to kill Palpatine, though she was able to smooth things over in the end by framing him in their place to downplay the threat. Willic was given a dose of truth serum, and Isard got a chance to test out the new YI-5 Surveillance/Interrogation Droid. Vune Willic gave a clean confession for the HoloNet, and Isard had him killed the next day. During this time, Isard was also involved in the development of the ''Conqueror'', an ''Imperial''-class Star Destroyer equipped with a superlaser, much like the one on the Death Star. After the construction of the ship was finished, the Conqueror was stationed in the Valc system, where a single test shot was fired with the superlaser at one of the uninhabited asteroids near the system, obliterating it completely. Shortly after the test, Isard was present on Valc VII, where she met with the Blackguard, a sect of Dark Jedi with whom the Imperial Intelligence had formed an alliance necessary to the Conqueror project. Isard and a group of Blackguard Elite Minions rode a speeder to a landing site, where supply shuttles from the Conqueror arrived to once a day. When they reached the site and exited the speeder, the shuttle had not arrived yet, so Isard took her time to remind the Blackguard of the utmost importance of the operation. Suddenly, a group of Rebels, members of Renegade Squadron sent to destroy the Conqueror, emerged from their cover, and a firefight ensued. Isard was outgunned, and she commanded the Blackguard to fall back. The Dark Jedi provided suppressive fire, keeping down the Rebels while Isard retreated back to the speeder. The surviving Blackguard then jumped into the speeder, and Isard fled from the site. Isard warned the Conqueror commander, Admiral Victor Strang, of the impending arrival of the Rebels aboard the Star Destroyer. Nevertheless, the Rebels were able to infiltrate the Conqueror by using the supply shuttle, and they destroyed the superlaser-equipped vessel from within with explosive charges.Star Wars: Threat of the Conqueror In 3 ABY, Isard visited the base of Baron Soontir Fel, leader of the 181st Imperial Fighter Group, who had caught her eye at previous functions. Isard had been sent to inform Fel of the impending attack at the Rebels' base on Derra IV, orchestrated by Vader and Mitth'raw'nuruodo. She attempted to seduce Fel, both sexually and with offers of promotions and power. The pilot refused to be captivated by these advances, though Isard simply claimed to have been sent by the Emperor to test his loyalty. As he had passed this test, she presented him with an offer to fly at Derra IV, Fel accepted, though for his rejection Isard had marked him as yet another enemy; something which Fel himself recognized and feared. Isard presumably played a part in the operations at Derra IV, as she was present at the awards ceremonies that followed.Star Wars: The Making of Baron Fel Although she was no longer an active field agent, Isard kept herself in good physical condition, often working out in gyms, and undergoing strenuous holographic training exercises. She was known to train against holograms of her enemies, letting out her frustration against them in a less volatile environment.Star Wars: Masquerade Personality and traits Ysanne Isard could often be compared to her two mismatched eyes. She could be icily cold, heartless and cruel, but was also prone to fiery, temperamental fits of anger. These traits asserted themselves at different times in her actions. Even as a field agent in the Empire, Isard was ambitious, calculating, and ruthless. She ruled the Empire in power, if not in name, and had a deep desire to control things, a weakness that would help lead to her defeat in the Bacta War. Her entire Lusankya prisoner complex was devoted to the torture of prisoners and then turning them into tools to bring down the Rebellion, though many observed that while she was talented at engineering opponents' downfalls politically, when she had to wield the hammer and deal with them in a more direct fashion, she did so rather clumsily. From the time she entered Imperial Intelligence until the time she died, Isard was possessed of an unyielding lust for power. She conspired against her own father in order to usurp him as Director, and the only person she would never betray and steal power from was Dantius Palpatine, who she saw as the man who had brought order to the galaxy. Isard claimed all her actions were done for the benefit and continuing survival of the Empire, though she rarely thought about anything other than herself when making a decision. After the loss of Coruscant, Isard found another equally influential planet to rule, and even after her supposed death she found it difficult being virtually powerless. Even when she did not wield any significant power, Isard always liked to be one step ahead of her enemies; in the aftermath of the Battle of Coruscant, she took comfort knowing the New Republic were searching the galaxy top to bottom for her, while she was actually hidden right under their noses. Throughout her life, Ysanne Isard showed an utter disregard for the lives of others, often killing hundreds to send a message to just one; Isard was ultimately responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of individuals. She had the people of Toprawa, a planet that had aided the Rebels, punished for their actions through starvation. Many Toprawans died during these "rituals," whereby Isard had them beg for food and praise the Emperor. In removing the Lusankya from underneath Coruscant's multitude of skyscrapers, she killed thousands upon thousands of people, many of them Imperials themselves. On Thyferra, she massacred the Ashern rebels by the thousands, and would have continued slaughtering the surplus million Vratix, all so that Wedge Antilles would feel rushed to attack her. Isard often had her own people killed, even for simply performing below her expectations. Her harsh methods for punishing traitors included killing all of their families. She often had officers in whom she was not entirely confident perform these executions, as a way of testing their mettle. Particularly during her youth, Isard had a very short temper, and often entered a sort of bloodlust, satisfied only by the mass killing of her enemies. When in a rage, Isard would happily execute even her best officers for even attempting to disagree or argue with her. Additionally, any whiff of insubordination she sensed was duly punished, often by death. Isard had considerable pride, and hated to be made to look bad in front of her superiors, allies, rivals, or enemies. After her failure on Darkknell during the Galactic Civil War, Isard was not able to return to Coruscant and face the music, so she instead fabricated evidence linking her father with the Rebellion, and accused him of sending her on a suicide mission. When Isard required as many usable vessels as she could get, it pained her to have to go after people like Teradoc and plead with him for the service of one of her ships. The whole war with Antilles and his people taxed Isard severely, as she envisioned the rest of the galaxy laughing at her and mocking her for being unable to stand up to a company that numbered no more than thirty individuals. Throughout their careers, a relationship between Isard and Emperor Cosimo Palpatine II continually resurfaced. When queried about her relationship with Palpatine by Corran Horn, she told him that she found his power and wealth difficult to resist. Isard was under the assumption that Palpatine loved her in return, though the Emperor always had fears of her trying to overthrow him. Horn noted many similarities between Isard and Palpatine, namely, their lust for power. Appearances }} Notes and references Category:Females Category:Humans Category:Inhabitants of Coruscant Category:Bureaucrats of the Galactic Empire Category:Imperial Intelligence Directors Category:Imperial Intelligence personnel of the Galactic Empire Category:Inhabitants of Bastion Category:Imperial Navy officers Category:Imperial warlords Category:Isard family Category:Torturers and interrogators Category:Heads of state of the Galactic Empire Category:Personnel of Ysanne Isard's Thyferran regime